Bill Busby

US Endoscopy was struggling with a high turnover rate during a time when the Mentor medical device company was gearing up for a growth spurt.

Human resources vice president Bill Busby needed to find a way to retain as many existing employees as possible to keep personnel replacement costs under control.

Indeed, US Endoscopy added 50 employees in 2010, bringing its headcount to 375, and it is looking forward to additional growth with the opening of a building in Mentor later this year.

“It is difficult to estimate the amount of money Bill has saved US Endoscopy because of these efforts,” the nomination said. “But it is safe to say that it has been hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Mr. Busby, who joined the company in May 2006, focused on the company's production and sales teams.

The company studied what performance factors it should use to evaluate employees and built a set of benchmarks that would be used to predict most effective employees and what to look for in new hires.

Mr. Busby then was able to improve the interview process by training managers on hiring techniques. He also created a leadership development program, improved compensation packages and even increased employees' days off, which was especially important for hourly employees.

As a result, turnover rates tumbled. Turnover for production employees dropped to 8% from 55% three years earlier. The sales force turnover effort began a year later and sales force turnover has dropped to 16% from 35% after two years.